The use of robotic vehicles has become prevalent in many industries in recent years. Such vehicles are commonly used for carrying monitoring devices, tools or other items, and can travel into hazardous or confined areas where human workers cannot or should not go. However, devising robotic vehicles capable of travelling through, and efficient operation in, enclosed and/or confined spaces such as within a system of pipes, ducts or other conduits, has presented difficulties.
Various robotic devices have heretofore been designed in an effort to solve problems relating to efficient travel and operation within a confined space or travelway. For example, various robotic devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,036,530; 4,522,179; 4,770,105; 4,848,168; 4,862,808; 4,938,081; 4,953,412; 5,018,451; 5,080,020 and 5,121,694. Other robotic devices are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Nos. 3[1991]-25067; 3[1991]-32976; 3[1991]-45464; 2[1990]-60875; 3[1991]-86679; 3[1991]-167066; 1[1989]-186462; 3[1991]-208765; and 04[1992]-2565; and French Patent No. 2,557,055. A robotic device is also disclosed in an article entitled Mechanical Caterpillar, POPULAR MECHANICS, June 1992, Vol. 169, No. 6. However, such devices tend to either lack the mobility or maneuverability for efficient operation or they include highly complex mechanisms for achieve mobility and maneuverability which make the devices expensive and difficult to operate and maintain. In this regard, for travel within a system of pipes or ducts efficient operation requires that the robotic vehicle be capable of controlled, small radius turns such that the vehicle can move between pipes or ducts which may intersect at various angles. Moreover, a mechanical breakdown of the robotic vehicle within a pipe or conduit system can result in great cost and inconvenience. Thus, mechanical complexity, with the attendant risk of a malfunction, is an unacceptable tradeoff for achieving mobility and maneuverability.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a robotic vehicle capable of travel through an enclosed or partially enclosed conduit, including vertical and/or horizontal conduit or pipe.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a robotic vehicle capable of transporting various monitoring devices, such as, for example, video cameras, pH and pOH electrodes, oxygen content monitors, conductivity probes, radioactivity monitors, fiber optics, etc., into an enclosed or partially enclosed conduit or pipe.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a robotic vehicle which is capable of transporting various tools through a conduit or pipe, such as, for example, scrubbing or liquid spraying tools for cleaning the conduit, grasping devices or scoops for retrieving objects or taking samples from within the conduit, and various other remotely controlled devices.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a robotic vehicle which is sufficiently maneuverable to travel between intersecting conduits of various sizes and otherwise suitable for travel through complex conduit systems.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a robotic vehicle which offers reliable operation, and which is inexpensive to manufacture and maintain.